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SIMPLIFY YOUR LIFE - Most important of all subjects
Affects health, income, relationships, etc. Subject has been Studied exhaustively!
What we are talking about today is like a buffet – Some you will like, some you won’t… You
pick
BRIAN TRACY
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1. WHAT ARE YOUR CORE VALUES
Identify your true passion – try to do too many things and get overwhelmed
If you could do one thing in life – all day long, what would this be? Work, music, creative,
relationships…
What will enrich your life the most. The fewer things you do but you love them, the better
your life will be.
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If you only had 6 months left to live, what would you do with your time?
Whoops, we made a mistake…You only have 6 weeks? Ooops….6 days?
Very few people would say anything other than spending time with family and friends..
THOSE WE LOVE THE MOST!!!
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When you are the most talented and skilled and knowledgeable, you must be the most
focused and intentional about simplifying your life. The more ambitious you are, the more
you allow your life to get out of balance because you think you can do it all.
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First, you must discover what your Core values are… never more than 3-5…Love, creativity,
compassion, forgiveness, success, entrepreneurship. No right or wrong. You just need
clarity.
What do you stand for? What would others say about that?
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Your values are always expressed in your actions, behaviors and interactions with other people.
And they really show up when you are under stress.
What gives you the most joy? Very often this is the indicator of what you should be doing today.
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BIGGEST OBSTACLE IS FEAR…Almost always based on what “MIGHT” happen if you do
something. Rarely based on past or present.
99% OF THOSE NEVER COME TRUE.
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QUESTION: What would you do or How would you change your life if you had no fear of
failure? Guaranteed to have success?
20 MILLION DOLLARS IN THE BANK
20/10 exercise from Stanford
$20 million in the bank. Cash and tax free… 10 years to live… What would you want do
before you were gone? Accomplish, do, leave behind
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Four goals every life has
LIVE – How would you live with more peak experiences
LOVE – Who would you love and love more fully
LEARN – What do you need to learn – what skill do you need to master
LEAVE A LEGACY- what do you want to leave for those left behind? What would you hope people
would say about you to your children? How do you want to be described?
When you ask and answer these questions, you move into the top 5% of society. NO one takes the
time to do this.
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MOST RELIGIONS revolve around the idea of HAVING PEACE OF MIND…Only
when you are completely at peace with yourself and your world are you truly
happy. Peace of mind should be our highest goal. BUT TOO MANY PEOPLE
LIVE ON SOMEDAY ISLAND- SOMEDAY, I’ll be happy but until that time I have to
do this job I hate and stay in this relationship I don’t like and do this thing I
don’t want to do. Your job is to say, if I had peace of mind and all this money in
the bank, what gives me the greatest joy, the greatest sense of satisfaction? WE
WILL ____________ WHAT?
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EXCUSITIS- I would like to, but!!!!! The word “but” is the GREAT ERASER!!! I
would like to do this or I would like to do that, but…. I don’t have 20M and I
don’t have the same opportunities, and but my market is different, but my
referral partners are different, but my bank is different….etc.
Don’t “But” yourself….GET UP, GET OUT AND GET OFF YOUR “BUTS” 
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2. WHAT ARE YOUR Goals? What do you want in general first…..
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What are your three most important goals in your life? (30 seconds)
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1. Financial
2. Health
3. Relationships
These are the 3 critical areas of our life.
What causes us stress is to be out of balance in one of these three areas…
If I were perfect in these areas, what would I look like in each of these areas?
Health- what do I want to weigh or look like? What foods would I eat, what
exercise would I do, how long would I exercise, what size would I be, what
mental exercises would I do.
Financial- Certain amount of money I want to make and want to accumulate?
Never been easier to become rich…Saved about 20% of everything we made,
invested wisely. Pick a number. Look at where you are today and make a plan
Relationships- If they were perfect, what would they look like and how would I
be? Happy, healthy, balanced.
Our natural tendency when we sit down and do this is to want to do everything at
once. We want to be perfect NOW. We want a quick fix….Don’t try to do it all at one
time… Baby steps on all of these…
Financial- takes about 20-25 years to get financially independent by doing the right
things over a long period of time. When we try to rush this, life gets complicated and
we never achieve the goals.
When you try to do it all at once, you end up running around in circles and chasing
everything and never finish anything. That’s why we say build the bridge and then
start the next one.
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STEADY EDDIE ON ALL OF THESE AREAS AND LIFE WILL BE
MUCH, MUCH SIMPLER
Decide what you want, develop long term thinking and you will get there.
If you just have 2 or 3 clear goals that we are moving towards relentlessly will help us
get to our more successful and simpler life. You won’t get distracted.
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When you work more and more frantically you can’t
accomplish as much.
Ask yourself… What am I trying to do and how am I trying to do it.. Could there be a better way?
“Assumptions” can be our greatest downfall. What assumptions are you making that may not be
true. What do you have to change? What you are doing on the outside has to be in harmony with
what you are feeling on the inside.
WHEN WE DRIVE THE CAR WITH A WHEEL OUT OF BALANCE, THE RIDE WILL ALWAYS BE
BUMPY. If it goes too long, then the axel will snap.
When our life gets out of balance with our inner values, we will have inner anxiety or relational
issues with the people around us. Stress, Anxiety, eat too much, don’t sleep enough, grouchy,
irritated.
When you get irritated with people or they get irritated with you, it is usually because something is
out of balance.
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If you say, “I DON’T HAVE TIME TO STOP and get my life in balance”
(overwhelmed, swamped, etc.)… THAT IS THE TIME TO SLAM ON THE BRAKES
AND RE-THINK THINGS.
SIMPLIFY YOUR LIFE BY TAKING A DAY OFF…
24 HOURS OR EVEN A FRIDAY TO A SUNDAY
BUSY PEOPLE HAVE A VERY HARD TIME DOING THIS
One way to simplify your life is to practice ZERO BASED THINKING (Always starting at
ground zero – from the beginning).
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KWYNK PRINCIPLE – commitments, relationships, work, finances
1. KNOWING WHAT I NOW KNOW, IS THERE ANYTHING YOU WOULD NOT DO OVER AGAIN?
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2. KNOWING WHAT I NOW KNOW, IS THERE ANY RELATIONSHIP (business or personal
YOU WOULD NOT DO OVER AGAIN? And if there is, how can you get out of it?
a. People basically do not change much at all. This is where a lot of our issues come
from. We hope, dream, wish, fantasize that people will change.
b. If someone is working with us now, they won’t change.
c. Character and habits pretty much defined by the age of 17
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d. Is there any relationship that you should get out of gracefully RIGHT NOW?
3. If there is someone working for you right now that is unsatisfactory, get rid of them. They
are not going to change. Just like we say – slow to hire, quick to fire. The minute you think
about it…..85% of all of our stress comes from people problems.
4. Even in personal relationships, you can simplify and streamline your life if you get out of bad
relationships. Don’t make EXCUSES!!
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5. SECOND PART OF ZERO-BASED THINKING- Is there anything activity now in business
or in practice (branch, etc) that you would not do now knowing what you now know?
a. Is there any process, procedure, activity, system, expense, marketing, etc. that
wouldn’t do it again.
b. You will know these things by what cause you stress right now? What are you talking
about with others that bother you?
c. Studies show that 70% of our decisions as knowledgeable and competent managers
will turn out to be wrong in time. They were good at the time, but time and
information change. Think cassette players.
d. Being in a bad situation causes us stress – we think about it, we talk about it, we grind
our teeth and get headaches, we don’t sleep, we eat too much or eat too little, we
drink, we ruin good relationships
e. QUESTION TO ASK OURSELVES NOW- If I were not out doing this now, would I start
again doing this activity again KNOWING WHAT I KNOW NOW? HAVE THE COURAGE
THEN TO SAY HOW DO I GET OUT OF THIS AS FAST AS POSSIBLE IN A HEALTHY
WAY?
i. PETER DRUCKER- It very seldom works to trim or tail back on an activity that is
not working. The very best thing is to CHOP IT COMPLETELY!!! JUST SLASH IT….
THIS IS WHY WHEN CURRENT MANAGEMENT CANNOT TURN AROUND A
COMPANY, THEY BRING IN A “TURN-AROUND” EXPERT… THIS PERSON LOOKS
AT EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE AND ASKS ARE THEY CONTRIBUTING TO THE
BIGGER PICTURE AND PROFITABILITY OR NOT? If not, then they must be
slashed from the company whether this be an activity or a person or people.
SIMPLIFY AND STREAMLINE THE COMPANY AND THIS WILL USUALLY LEAD
TO MORE PROFITABILITY. Focus on the profitability makes this possible. For us,
FOCUS ON THE 2-3 THINGS THAT GIVE YOU THE GREATEST JOY AND RESULTS
ii. ZERO-BASED THINKING WITH REGARDS TO INVESTMENTS- Whether it is
related to time, money or investments. Make your decision based on
today – not the past or the future. Not on what is invested – time has
already been spent.
1. TEXAS HOLD EM STRATEGY BY EXPERTS WHO PLAY THE GAME--ALWAYS MAKE YOUR BETS BASED ON TODAY AND WHAT THE CARDS
ARE TELLING YOU NOW… NOT BASED ON HOW MUCH YOU ALREADY
HAVE INVESTED INTO THIS IN AN ATTEMPT TO RE-GAIN SOME OF
YOUR INVESTMENT.
2. People don’t change… admit – we waste a lot of time trying to
recapture what has been lost.
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R’S TO SIMPLIFY OUR LIVES
1.
REORGANIZATION- Ask yourself - Could I plan and re-organize my life to get more
done – more efficiently in less time? Could I simplify or reduce my activities to get more
done? Manager- Could I reorganize our team or our activities to simplify and speed up our
process? Could I consolidate several jobs into one? Could I expand our activites by putting
someone else in charge (loan partner) How? Cluster all your tasks….
a. Doing the same activity all at once will get you in the ZONE and help you accomplish a
ton more than if you do the activity a little bit at a time.
i. RUN ALL THE ERRANDS AT ONCE. PLAN THEM GEOGRAPHICALLY OR
ii. MAKE ALL OF YOUR CALLS AT ONCE…
iii. CLEAN HOUSE ALL AT ONCE
iv. RE-ORGANIZE ACTIVITES TO STREAMLINE THESE ACTIVITIES
v. PEN AND A PIECE OF PAPER ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL SIMPLIFICATION
TOOLS WE CAN HAVE.
b. RULE TO KEEP IN MIND- Get everything you need for an activity before you start
the activity. Take a little time to plan and prepare for the activity before your start.
JUST LIKE A GOOD COOK WILL LAY OUT ALL OF THE INGREDIENTS BEFORE
STARTING TO COOK. This will save about 50% of the time by doing this activity
beforehand.
c. Same rule applies to planning our days, weeks and months… Lay out everything
that needs to be accomplished before starting an activity. You will save 10 minutes
in of execution for each minute of planning. Video – have your scripts, props,
equipment etc. together
d. You will save 10 minutes in execution for every one minute of planning. Simply life
by 90% if you plan.
2. RESTRUCTURE YOUR WORK- DO THE THINGS THAT MATTER
a. 80/20 rule or 90/10 rule- 80% of what we accomplish or sometimes even 90 % of
what we accomplish is gained by 10 or 20% of the work we are doing. The other 80
or 90% is not accomplishinganything. So 90% of the things we are doing have NO
VALUE! They don’t matter…..Restructure our lives to be doing the things that
impact our lives and our business the MOST!!! (TOP 10 OR 20% INSTEAD OF
THE BOTTOM 80 OR 90 %.)
QUADRANT 1,2,3,4 MANAGEMENT
URGENT VS IMPORTANT
URGENT
AND IMPORTANT
WANT TO WORK IN THIS QUADRANT
URGENT AND
NOT IMPORTANT
NOT URGENT
NOT URGENT AND
NOT IMPORTANT
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AND IMPORTANT
WANT TO WORK IN THIS QUADRANT
Many of the activities if you ignore them for any length of
time will simply disappear.
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VERY WORST USE OF TIME IS TO DO VERY WELL WHAT
NEED NOT BE DONE AT ALL!!! (useless perfectionism)
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3. RE-ENGINEER YOUR PERSONAL PROJECTS- How can I do this with the
least amount of steps? (How can I blank without blank?)
a. Example- Fastest way to somewhere is not always the shortest route… If the shortest
route has a lot of stop signs or red lights, then it may be faster to go around the lights.
(Get there almost twice as fast. Delays add a lot)
b. When doing a project, are there steps that can be combined to make the process
easier and more efficient and faster? The more steps you have, the higher the risk for
mistakes. Which of these steps could I outsource to someone else? Like outsourcing
a task. DELEGATE TASKS TO LOWER PAID PEOPLE IF POSSIBLE… The more steps
you have, the higher the risk for mistakes. (house cleaning, cooking, errands, etc.)
c. MAKE IT A GAME TO CREATE CHUNKS OF TIME WHERE WE DO NOT HAVE
ANYTHING TO DO. Have to reverse our thinking. Not feel guilty about doing LESS!!!
Rewire yourself mentally. Ask yourself – How can I get more off my plate???
d. PICK THINGS THAT YOU CAN ELIMINATE- Eliminate tasks that have no value or low
value at all. Gives you more time to do the things that matter.
4. REINVENTION- IMAGINE IF COMPANY BURNED TO THE GROUND AND YOU HAD TO
WALK ACROSS THE STREET TO START BUSINESS AGAIN, Who would you want to walk
across the street to START AGAIN WITH?
a. What customers would you want? What referral partners would you want?
What team would you want? What location would you want? What process,
lender, schedule, niche, focus, anything would you want????
b. LUMBER YARD BURNS TO THE GROUND- $5 MILLION ON INSURANCE- COLLECTED
THE MONEY, SOLD THE LAND FROM BUSINESS AND INVESTED THE MONEY AND
RETIRED… Better investment than re-building the lumber yard and doing what they
were doing before.
Sometimes we need to reinvent ourselves. If your career came to an end, what would you do
to reinvent yourself. If you aren’t constantly changing or reinventing, life will pass you by.
(Look at people who didn’t buy into technology) Imagine you have no limitations. If money,
time, education etc. were no object, what would you do.
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In life there are SINS OF OMMISSION (things we never did or tried) OR SINS OF
COMMISSION (we did something – at least we tried)- We will regret more the things
we did not do (OMMISSION) than the things we did do in life(COMMISSION). The
richest place in the world is a cemetery – Books that were never written, movies never
acted, songs never sung, things never tried….Les Brown
On a regular basis you need to reinvent yourself. What new skills do you need to
learn, what new things do you need to try?
SUCCESSFUL COMPANIES ARE THOSE THAT LOOK DOWN THE ROAD AND ASK
THEMSELVES:
WHAT SKILLS WILL WE HAVE TO HAVE IN 5 YEARS to lead our field?
What core competencies do we have to have to stay on top and be the best company
we can be?
What am I doing to develop this right now? What is my plan?
Ask yourself: What do I need to be really really good at to enjoy a certain standard of
living in the future. And what am I doing that is consuming so much time right now
and not helping me to get where I need to be?
DO MORE AND MORE OF FEWER AND FEWER THINGS THAT GIVE US THE BIGGEST
PAYOFFS!
In terms of simplifying your life, one of the greatest things you can do is to plan…One of the
greatest complicators in life is unplanned, unstructured time. Be a list maker!
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ALL SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE THINK ON PAPER. Unsuccessful people trust it all to luck,
imagination and to memory.
Plan time in advance – Be a list maker
Plan year in advance
Plan your vacations - Book them and pay for them,
If you don’t, then force you family time onto your schedule.
If you say, I haven’t had a vacation for the last year… you are an idiot and have no control of
your schedule.
What could you possibly be doing that is more important than your family???
Plan monthly calendar and put the BIG ROCKS INTO THE BOWL FIRST.
ACTION POINT- PACKAGE THESE THINGS TOGETHER AS YOU WORK THROUGH SCHEDULEBundle the phone calls. Bundle and plan everything in advance.
Organize by priority every single thing we have to do each day and for each BIG PROJECT.
What has to be done first and what has to be done second/WRITE IT DOWN!!!
Your mind gets calm and clear
Plan each week in advance. EVERY SINGLE HOUR OF EACH WEEK. Practice 70/30 planning.
Plan only 70% -80% of the time, but leave 20-30% for overflow or unexpected things you
encounter or delays you were not expecting.
Plan you day the day before.
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Write down the most important things on a card each day and each week. Carry the card around
with you all day. Forget what you are supposed to do that day or week. Take out your card and
remind yourself. Always write down the list and tick them off as you
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LAW OF FORCED EFFICIENCY- If overwhelmed by work, this will force us to do the most
important things involved. (Like going on vacation)
What has the greatest consequences?
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SET PRIORITIES BASED ON THE A-B-C-D-E METHOD
A- Most important and critical things that HAVE TO BE DONE BY ME. MAJOR
CONSEQUENCES IF NOT DONE.
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B- Less critical items SHOULD DO… MILD CONSEQUENCES IF NOT DONE.
C- Nice to do, but have no consequences either way.
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D- Delegate the things that need to be done but not by you
E- Eliminate the things that do not need to be done
Your job is to do mostly A things.
If we did one or two major things each day, we would be way ahead.
Never give in to the temptation of getting the smaller things done first. Small things are like rabbits,
they multiply beyond belief. You could spend all day doing these things and the big things never get
done.
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YOU CAN ONLY SIMPLIFY YOUR LIFE TO THE DEGREE THAT YOUSTOP DOING THINGS.
You cannot simplify your life by becoming more efficient so that you can do MORE things!
You need to stop doing things.
You are like a restaurant who is fully booked for dinner
Your dance card is fully booked. Before you start something new, you have to stop doing something
else.
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MUST make this a habit: WHAT ARE THE THINGS WE CAN STOP DOING ALTOGETHER in
order to have time to do the things that bring value and contribute to your life?
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HEALTH AND RELATIONSHIPS THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS IN OUR LIVES…followed by
career, etc.
1) Need health- spend more time doing the things that give us the greatest joy and add to
our health. Taking care of ourselves, diet, exercise, etc.
2) Need relationships – dates, vacations, fun
Again, WHAT ARE THE THINGS WE CAN STOP DOING ALTOGETHER in order to have time to
do the things that bring value and contribute to your life
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ANOTHER STEP TO SIMPLIFYING OUR LIVES- SINGLE HANDLING
Doing the one thing, the most important thing in our lives all at once. Takes tremendous discipline
to do this. One of the most power habits we can do is Single Handling. Doing one thing at a time
until it is finished. You can save 80% of time if you will do this. Starting and stopping a task over
and over again can increase the time involved over 500%. MULTI-TASKING HURTS US.
Greatest achievements come from concentrated work over an extended period of time. One of the
best steps we can do is work from home in the mornings or in the evenings to work on the major
tasks while being fully focused.
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Another thing to simplify is to reduce our paper. We start making stacks and stacks and
stacks. PAPER RULE- TRAF WITH MAIL OR ANY TYPE OF PAPER
T (toss) - Open over trash basket
R-(refer) refer it to someone – don’t even look at it.
A-(action)- take action on this – put in a red folder
F- file- Remember - 80% of things that get filed are never used. WHEN IN DOUBT, THROW IT
OUT!!! If you are filing, you are creating work for someone else.
GLAD GARBAGE BAG—MORE THAN 6 MONTHS OLD, THROW IT AWAY… especially business
magazines, etc. New and better stuff has come out.
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SIMPLIFY by READINGNewspapers and Magazines designed to be read cover to cover… BIG TIME WASTER
Table of contents first- read then trash NEWSPAPER OR MAGAZINE WITH FOLLOWING RULES
MAGAZINES- Rip and read… Table of Contents- 3-5 minutes – go to the article that appeals to you
and rip it out.
If it is not immediately relevant (to your work and life), throw it away. If it is not relevant, you
won’t ever get to it. You only remember things that are relevant to you.
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Take a speed-reading course. Learn how to read.
GET THIS FOR OUR FAMILY… LEARN IT TOGETHER. This is a habit. A learnable habit.
More key points SIMPLIFY OUR LIVES BY LEAVing (turning) THINGS OFF
RADIO, TELEVISION, TECHNOLOGY, ETC DURING DINNER…
Drive with family members- leave radio off. Conversation will follow.
Set hours in house for when TV will be off. Set specific hours.
Have dinner as often as you can with your family.
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SIMPLIFY LIFE BY GOING TO BED EARLY
Get up slowly
Get plenty of rest
Read spiritual material
Plan your day
Try to get up 2 hours early… feed your spiritual life first hour… then spend one hour getting ready
for day. Invest in yourself. Be comfortable with the quiet
PASCHAL- All bad things come from Man cannot stay in a room by themselves…
PRACTICE SOLITUDE…. ONE HOUR EACH DAY. Try to sit in solitude for 30-60 minutes a day.
Develop a tremendous sense of peace. Enjoy the quiet.
Takes about 20-25 minutes before your life and mind and brain slows down and creativity begins to
flow. UNTIL THEN, YOU WILL BE FIGHTING YOUR SELF TO GET UP AND GO DO STUFF. Discipline
yourself.
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WRAP-UP--- Think about what is most important to you…Your values, your
beliefs your convictions. Imagine your life could be perfect in every way
IF YOU COULD WAIVE A MAGIC WAND TODAY, WHAT WOULD YOU START
DOING RIGHT NOW…What would you stop doing.
WHO WOULD YOU SPEND TIME WITH?
WHAT WOULD YOU BE DOING?
WHAT WOULD YOU STOP DOING IF YOU HAD 20 MILLION DOLLARS IN THE BANK?
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You are the one who complicates your life.
YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE?
80% OF YOUR CHANCES TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN LIFE LIE AT THE FOOT
OF LEARNING THESE SKILL SETS
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